WaterAid Response to the UN High Level Panel Report

News

“We can only end poverty if an ambitious goal is set for everyone, everywhere to enjoy the human right to water and sanitation by 2030. WaterAid is delighted that the UN High Level Panel has listened to the call for a goal on universal access to water and sanitation.”

“With 1.2 billion people still living on less than $1.25 a day, WaterAid welcomes the vision outlined in this report. It will inspire world leaders to commit to an ambitious new set of global goals that finally deliver an end to extreme poverty.”

The UN High Level Panel has been co-chaired by Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, Liberian President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf and Prime Minister David Cameron. The Panel have met five times in the last 9 months in New York, London, Monrovia and Bali where they have held discussions on their recommendations on what should replace the existing Millennium Development Goals.

With 1 in 3 people globally without access to safe sanitation and 1 in 10 without clean drinking water, WaterAid is calling for a goal and ambitious targets for universal access to water, sanitation and hygiene by 2030.

WaterAid has spokespeople available from Australia, London, New York, Washington DC, and Africa for comment and interview on both the broad thrust of the High Level Panel Report as well as the new goal and targets around water and sanitation.

For interview requests, background briefings or further questions, please contact:

WaterAid’s vision is of a world where everyone has access to safe water and sanitation. The international organisation works in 27 countries across Africa, Asia and the Pacific region to transform lives by improving access to safe water, hygiene and sanitation in some of the world’s poorest communities. Since 1981, WaterAid has reached 17.5 million people with safe water and, since 2004, 12.9 million people with sanitation. For more information, visit www.wateraid.org, follow @wateraid on Twitter or visit us on Facebook at www.facebook.com/wateraid

Around 2,000 children die every day from diseases caused by dirty water and poor sanitation.

768 million people in the world live without safe water. This is roughly one in eight of the world's population.

2.5 billion people live without sanitation; this is 39% of the world's population.